By Jacob Burg
Contributing Writer
Former President Joe Biden’s longtime White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said on Wednesday that she has left the Democratic Party and will release a tell-all book on her time in the administration later this year.
Jean-Pierre, 50, served as Biden’s White House press secretary from May 2022 until the former president ended his term in January. Previously, Jean-Pierre worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and in the White House during former President Barack Obama’s first term in office.
In a Wednesday Instagram video, the former press secretary said she will release her book “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines” on Oct. 21.
“In an era of misinformation, disinformation, the regressiveness of social policy, what we’re seeing currently, right now — what I have decided to do, and I really have thought long and hard about this, is to follow my own compass, and that’s what I’ve done, and that’s what this book does,” she said.
“I think we need to stop thinking in boxes and think outside of our boxes, and not be so partisan. … This book ‘Independent,’ it’s about looking outside of boxes, not just always being in a partisan stance.”
In a promotional release, Hachette Book Group said, “Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an independent lightly.”
“She has served two American presidents, Obama and Biden,” the release reads. “She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision.”
The publisher goes on to state that Jean-Pierre “defines what it means to be part of the growing percentage of our fractured electorate that is independent, why it can be worthwhile to carve a political space more loyal to personal beliefs than a party affiliation, and what questions you need to ask yourself to determine where you fit politically.”
Jean-Pierre faced criticism for defending Biden toward the end of his administration when the former president’s mental acuity was under the spotlight, particularly following the June 2024 presidential debate that preceded his stepping down from the election.
Her book announcement comes just weeks after CNN chief White House correspondent Jake Tapper and Axios national political correspondent Alex Thompson unveiled their insider book on the Biden White House, “Original Sin.”
The journalists described how White House staffers and Democratic allies expressed concerns about Biden’s mental acuity in the closing months of his term, citing instances in which he struggled to recognize longtime political allies, lost his train of thought in important conversations, and forgot important dates.
Biden denied those allegations in early May when he sat down for his first interview post-presidency with ABC’s “The View.”
The former president said anonymous sources cited in various media reports alleging that he was in cognitive decline were wrong.
“There’s nothing to sustain that,” he said.
